Christmas Eve Twenty-Twleve

Christmas Eve Day is always a fun one. We kept the kids busy which tamed their excitement just a teeny tiny bit. The day was full of LOTS of cooking!

The neat thing about spending the holidays with the cousins, is that we get to be a part of their Christmas traditions and they get to be a part of ours.

Unwrapping the chocolate kisses for the peanut butter and chocolate cookies was one of the first things on the agenda. This is a Fewell tradition...and I think that we might just have to adopt this one too. The cookies were soooo yummy!

After the cooking and the big Christmas dinner, it was time to get ready for church. Since the church Mamo and Papo go to has several smaller locations, they combined all of the serivices into one. Since there were going to be so many people, it was held at a baseball stadium. In honor of Jesus' birthday, there were glow sticks, fireworks, and hot chocolate. It was a neat experience and a fond memory for sure!

The Mamarazzi had to take some pictures...and these days, it seems that I have to let tell the girls that they can take a silly picture after I get a good non-silly face one.

This was one Happy Mamo...she was with all her babies and grandbabies for Christmas! I love this picture of everyone all bundled up at the church service...even though CG wasn't in the picture taking mood--he is still a cute kid!

{Fireworks for Jesus' Birthday!}

Once we got home, and before they had their baths and showers, these four kiddos came up with a "list" of how Christmas Day would go down. They had assigned roles/jobs to everyone and instructions with times. It was hilarious!!

Mamo's & Papo's Christmas tree is so pretty and full of ornaments with such  great memories. And...their tree spins around so all of the ornaments can be seen!

After the kiddos were clean and in their jammies, we kicked the Christmas Eve traditions into high gear...

The girls waiting for their stories to be read.

Can you tell CG wasn't impressed with the pictures?

Uncle Jeff always reads Twas the Night before Christmas to Peyton and Cameron on Christmas Eve. Our girls were lucky enough to get to hear it too!

{Flat Stanley from Anna's class came on our trip with us and we wanted to get a picture of him enjoying the story with everyone.}

{Flat Stanley had to sit with Ashton too!}

{We brought Mamo and Papo a book about Texas at Christmas so Daddy read that book to the kiddos}

After the stories were read, we wandered into the kitchen to prepare the reindeer food and cookies...

And pictures just before we tucked the kiddos into bed...

But, before bed we had to let the kids sprinkle the reindeer food in the yard!

Once the kiddos were in bed, the grown ups in the house sat down to a friendly game of cards. Actually, we play cards EVERY single night when we visit.

Finally...after the stockings were hung and the traditions were taken care of, it was time for everyone to sleep tight so Santa could come!